Page 54 of The Royal Throne
“I know. Which is why no one can find out.” It would ruin everything. Then there would be no one to stop Rainer from going to war. She reached out, splaying her hand on the ground, digging her fingers into the warm sand. Lifting her hand, she watched the sand slide off.
“I wish I’d known sooner. It changes things.”
She didn’t know how it changed anything. Besides, next week, her monthly course would come. Then she’d consummate her marriage. Her face flushed from what Lottie had said to her earlier—about her pretending Rainer was Evander when being intimate. Would she have to do that to get through it? She had no idea.
“What are you thinking about?” Evander asked, watching her.
“Nothing worth mentioning.” Her face turned even redder. She was forced to think about how her marriage gave her the chance to stop a war. That had to be her focus—not her own wants and desires. “Let’s not talk about Rainer.” Today was supposed to be a break from all that.
“Your wish is my command.” Evander twisted to his side, his arm propping his head up as he faced her. “Are you in the mood for something adventurous?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Something dangerous.”
“I’ve had enough danger to last a lifetime.”
“Something thrilling.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “I’m intrigued.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes.” She could use a little adventure and something thrilling right about now.
Evander smirked as he jumped to his feet and reached down for her hand, pulling her up. “There’s a cliff not far from here. If we climb to the top, we can jump into the water.”
“You want to jump off a cliff?” she asked incredulously, a smile spreading across her face. That sounded amazing.
“It’s a thirty foot drop,” he said, leading the way back into the jungle, his voice laced with excitement. “It feeds into a lagoon.”
She was about to ask him how he’d found the cliff but thought better of it. “Do you like to do these sorts of things?”
“I do. I assume you do as well.” His face was lit with excitement.
“You assume correctly. But how’d you figure that out?” In Avoni, they hadn’t done anything like this.
He shrugged. “The way you readily agreed to sail the boat, how adept you were at climbing that tree, the way your eyes lit up in the tavern.”
It always amazed her how well he seemed to know and understand her even though they’d only known each other for a short amount of time.
They traversed between the trees until they came to a rock wall, part of it covered with vines.
“There’s enough places to put your hands and feet for leverage,” Evander said as he began to climb.
Mimicking him, Sabine followed him up, easily able to navigate the rock wall since there were so many divots and grooves to latch onto. When she reached the top, she found Evander a few feet away, peering over the ledge. She joined him, gazing below into the small, black lagoon. “Is it safe?” She couldn’t see the bottom. For all she knew, it might only be a couple of feet deep.
“I checked it out and it’s deep enough. You just have to make sure to aim for the center.”
The lagoon was about twenty feet in diameter. “Great. You go first.” Then, once he survived, she’d take her turn.
He chuckled. “Nope. We’re going together.” Evander clutched her hand and stood with his toes over the edge, waiting for her to position her body alongside his.
She stood next to him, her toes also hanging over the edge. “All right,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I’m ready.”
“Are you a screamer?” he asked, a wicked gleam to his green eyes.
She laughed. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.”
